April 23, 2012

Last night's Tastemakers
Soul Hartford was an awesome and productive fete. I met some great
people, gleaned and exchanged some insightful ideas.

I'm admittedly averse to "networking" in the most commonly known sense of the word and act and many such ‘schmoozy’ events. In fact I'm anti-networking.
To quote noted New York City party planner and social media maven, Bevy Smith ...

"A word about NETWORKING, a word I detest, an idea I abhor! Folks
in a room targeting who they should be talking to based on position ...
YUCK!"

And Bevy Smith, who highly endorses building genuine business relationships
organically, should know. Her intimate "Dinner with Bevy" gatherings
boast an extraordinary list of marketing types/PR types paired with celebrity notables, who'd
probably never consider socializing with one another over dinner, under any other
circumstances if not brought together at an intimate venue, over a delectable spread, by Bevy. And on that note, having
finally attended a Tastemakers Soul- Hartford event, I'd say it was definitely about
genuine building than networking, as I've come to know and detest it. People in attendance were looking to
connect and possibly cultivate some collaborative projects with one another. There was nary an ego or discriminating conversationalist in sight. And that's definitely something I
endorse.

There was a Soul
Purpose representative onsite, with delectable products on-hand; as well as
writers, singers, editors, PR types, and poets. I shared the first panel discussion with some
outstanding and talented folk and we all offered up food for thought on; starting
and sustaining useful connections, protecting your personal brand and the importance
of business nuance and awareness. I mostly spoke about utilizing social media productively as a writer, to increase awareness and build reputation.

There was second panel called DJ 101, which was a continuation to a previous
Tastemaker DJ panel. Subsequent performances included those by spoken word
performance poet, Tarishi
“Midnight” Shuler and singer/songwriter/producer Howa.rd (who I’ll be interviewing
for a Coffee
Buzz feature in the coming days).

I definitely look forward to participating and/or attending future
Tastemaker Soul Hartford or (similar other) events. Tastemakers Soul Hartford take place every month at Vibz Uptown. It's definitely a welcome and much needed affair, in the HartBeat.